A perfect blend

A platform to showcase individual and collective skills, share and learn from experiences, the ninth edition of the Great Indian Culinary Challenge (GICC) has grown from leaps to bounds year-on-year By Kahini Chakraborty

The Great Indian Culinary Challenge (GICC) 2015, organised at the 24th edition of Food Hospitality World (FHW) exhibition in Mumbai, witnessed participation from over 100 chefs from well-known hotels in the western region. Held on the sidelines of the three-day event, GICC’s ninth edition was supported by the Western India Culinary Association (WICA). And this year GICC also saw an extended support from the Culinary Forum of Goa. GICC is a food preparation competition involving senior and apprentice chefs across India. The competition provides a professional platform for culinary professionals from India to showcase their individual and collective skills, learn, share experiences, partner and network in a competitive environment. The GICC 2015 ‘ingredient partners’ included: Unilever (Knorr); Nestle (Milkmaid); Daawat Basmati; and American Pistachios.

The judges for GICC included: Chef Vikas Bagul, executive pastry chef, The Oberoi Hotels and Resorts; Chef Kainaz Messman, head of production, Theobroma Foods; Chef Vivek Kadam, pastry chef, Grand Hyatt Mumbai; Chef Vasant Khot, senior pastry chef, Holiday Inn Mumbai International Airport; Chef Lawrence Fernandes, pastry chef, Hotel Sahara Star Mumbai; Chef Vernon Coelho, president, Western India Culinary Association (WICA), and head of department, food production, Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology & Applied Nutrition; Chef Sudhir Pai, executive chef, Holiday Inn Mumbai International Airport; Chef Vijay Malhotra, executive chef, ITC Grand Maratha; Chef Abdul Qader Shaikh, executive chef, The Leela Mumbai; Chef Bhaskar Sankhari, executive chef, ITC Grand Central Mumbai; Chef Nilesh Limaye; Chef Rahul Dhavale, executive chef, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide; Chef Vikas Seth, corporate executive chef, Dish Hospitality; Chef Sandeep Pande, executive chef, Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel; Chef Ajay Devali; Chef Salil Phadnis, executive chef, Hotel Sahara Star Mumbai and secretary, WICA.

Commenting on the success of GICC, Chef Coelho said, “GICC has been growing from strength to strength. The quality of the exhibition has improved and reaching international standards. A lot of industry people are also getting involved in the exhibition which is a good news. I judged the plated appetizers and found a strong influence of Japanese food style or ingredients/ flavours used in the recipes created. I am looking forward to next year’s event also.”

The Categories

Day 1 (January 22, 2015)
Category 1 – A Themed Chocolate Showpiece Theme ‘Water World’
Category 3 – Breads Display

Day 2 (January 23, 2015)
Category 4 – Plated Desserts

Day 3 (January 24, 2015)
Category 2 – Plated Appetizers

Individual Hot Cooking (Category 5 & 6) – were held on three days of the event

Category 5 – (Individual – Professional) Indian or International Main Course Meat / Poultry / Seafood / Vegetarian (January 22-23, 2015)
Category 6 – (Inter College Team Competition) Indian Meal (January 24, 2015)

Chef Messman opined, “There has been an outstanding effort from the students. The effort and innovation put in by these chefs is worth to be appreciated. They have successfully married western flavours with Indian taste. Flavour before everything else is important for me, and I saw that criteria being matched with innovation by these students in their recipes.” While Chef Fernandes, added by stating that the level of innovation and participation has indeed gone high. “Students have come to realise the expectations of the judges and they have successfully used their skills to innovate with their recipes and present it in an appealing manner,” he said.